Herbert Allison Jr., a former head of the U.S. government’s bank rescue program and CEO of Fannie Mae after it was taken over by the government, died Sunday. He was 69.

Allison spent much of his career at Merrill Lynch, rising to chief operating officer and president, and later served as chairman, president and CEO of TIAA-CREF, the investment firm.

After President George W. Bush’s administration took over the mortgage giant Fannie Mae in 2008, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson asked Allison to run it. The next year, President Obama tapped Allison to oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

Allison graduated from Yale University. He spent four years in the Navy, then earned an MBA from Stanford University in 1971.